No announcement on Soon Koh's fate in party after committee meeting, case still under probe

Kuching: Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP) Sibu Branch chairman Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh's fate in the party continue to hang in the balance as the Central Working Committee (CWC) did not discuss complaints against him at its meeting held at the party headquarters here yesterday.

SUPP president Datuk Seri Peter Chin said Wong's name was not mentioned during the CWC meeting as his case was still under the investigation by the party's disciplinary committee.

"The CWC meeting was a routine meeting on party's administrative matters in our preparations for the upcoming general election. The CWC did not discuss anything about Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh because the disciplinary committee had not submitted their report," he said at a press conference after the CWC meeting.

Chin explained investigations on disciplinary cases in the party must be done thoroughly and therefore, the CWC had requested the party's disciplinary committee to look into all aspects before coming out with any report or recommendations.

"It is for the disciplinary committee to conduct their investigations in an independent as well as transparent manner and therefore, there is no need to hurry," he said.

When asked whether Wong's case was discussed during the last disciplinary committee meeting, the party's deputy secretary-general Matthew Chen said Wong's case was not the only case investigated by the disciplinary committee as some other cases were also probed.

As to how many times the disciplinary committee had sat to discuss the matter, Chen said the number of times was not the concern as long as the committee could carry out its investigation.

On Wong's claim that Prime Minister and BN chairman Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak had said during a meeting on Oct 11 with representatives from SUPP branches that there should not be any sackings, Chin insisted that he had not received any specific instruction from Najib.

"I was not in the meeting and the prime minister has not written to me or secretary-general (Prof Dr Sim Kui Hian) on the directive," he said.

When asked on Wong's statement that the party had no ground to act against him because he did not commit offences against the interests of the party, Chin said it was for the disciplinary committee to investigate as they were the ones investigating based on whatever evidence provided to them.

Meanwhile, Dr Sim said there was nothing wrong with disciplinary actions being taken against any SUPP member who had acted against the party's interests as even BN backbone party Umno had done did.

"Umno formed a special committee just for the election and if there is no more sacking on members, then why did they sacked two members recently?" he asked.

Dr Sim stressed that nobody, including the present party leadership would be spared of disciplinary action if they were found to have conducted anything which was detrimental to the interests of the party.